Girls in the U8 division play soccer at the fields on Azalea Road as part of the Asheville Buncombe Youth Soccer Association. / WNC Parent photo

Written by

Michael McWilliams

WNC Parent contributor

ABYSA by the numbers

5: Number of leagues 5,010: Total children participants, May 2010-May 2011 3,338 participants in Recreation program 304: participants in Challenge/Academy program 814: participants in Outreach program 295: soccer players in summer camp program 545: players on 36 teams in Classic program 187: players in adult recreation program 1,095: number of players in Asheville Buncombe Adult Soccer Association program 6,160: total children and adult participants 14: number of years a child could participate if he or she played from youngest to oldest levels 14: number of soccer fields used at John B. Lewis Soccer Complex on Azalea Road 11: number of fields used at the Buncombe County Sports Park in Candler. Many: soccer balls kicked into the Swannanoa River 1,225: soccer balls bought per year 4,335: uniforms bought per year 1,750: practice T-shirts bought per year 3,415: games played per year among all divisions 100: number of referees $72,861: amount of financial aid for 2010 300+: number of games coached by Kim Smith, who has coached the most games and is still active 42: schools in Buncombe and Madison counties served through Soccer in the Schools 21,000: number of children served in Soccer in the Schools during 2010-11 1,332: hours of instruction from Soccer in Schools during 2010-11 school year 7: tournaments hosted in 2010 4,757: hotel rooms booked because of tournaments More than $2.7 million: estimated economic impact from tournaments 11: full-time employees 41: part-time paid coaches 380: volunteer recreation coaches per year 44,700: estimated volunteer hours per year

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The Asheville Buncombe Youth Soccer Association considers its birthday as January 1981, when a brief article published in Asheville Citizen-Times solicited players to sign up.

Now, 30 years later, ABYSA is bigger and stronger than ever. The organization has easily coached tens of thousands of Western North Carolina youth soccer players and is involved in adult leagues, too.

But Executive Director Mike Rottjakob wants ABYSA to be known for being more than just WNC's largest soccer league. For the past four years, the organization has done Soccer in the Schools, where an ABYSA coach helps lead an area school's gym classes for a week.

It's trying to reach kids who otherwise would not participate in sports activities, Rottjakob said. It's our mission to serve kids and provide them healthy sports activities. Kids who participate in team sports are much more likely to exercise as adults, so we're really also trying to do our part to address long-term health issues.

ABYSA also has a financial aid program that has doled out more than $70,000 during the current fiscal year to help underprivileged children play soccer. We really appreciate our corporate partners who help us reach deep in the community to serve families with financial need, Rottjakob said. Children who might have problems getting to a soccer game because of transportation issues can participate through outreach programs that bring the soccer to children, he added.

We really want to serve the whole community, not just those kids whose parents can walk in here and write a check, Rottjakob said. We don't want only to be known as big, but to be known as compassionate, to be known as concerned, and that we're really making an effort to serve the entire community.

Kim Bava and her family moved to WNC from Florida when their oldest child, Daniel, was about 13. Daniel is now 27 and is one of eight Bava children  five girls and three boys  who have participated in ABYSA over the years, the most of any family.

We were driving by one day and saw kids out there playing soccer and I said, 'Wow, they have soccer up here,' Kim Bava said of how she first learned about ABYSA.I think it's a really good organization that strives to have a positive atmosphere for the kids and they really encourage good behavior and sportsmanship.